NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 47 



swoln like those of a gouty man. After harvest I have shot them 

 before the pointers in turnip-fields. 



I make no doubt but there are three species of the willow-wrens ;-* 

 two I know perfectly, but have not been able yet to procure the third. 

 No two birds can differ more in their notes, and that constantly, 

 than those two that I am acquainted with ; for the one has a joyous, 

 easy, laughing note, the other a harsh loud chirp. The former is 

 every way larger, and three-quarters of an inch longer, and weighs 

 two drams and a half, while the latter weighs but two ; so the 

 songster is one-fifth heavier than the chirper. The chirper (being 

 the first summer -bird of passage that is heard, the wryneck 

 sometimes excepted) begins his two notes in the middle of March, 

 and continues them through the spring and summer till the end of 

 August, as appears by my journals. The legs of the larger of these 

 two are flesh-coloured ; of the less black. 



The grasshopper-lark began his sibilous note in my fields last 

 Saturday. Nothing can be more amusing than the whisper of this 

 little bird, which seems to be close by though at an hundred yards 

 distance ; and, when close at your ear, is scarce any louder than 

 when a great way off. Had I not been a little acquainted with 

 insects, and known that the grasshopper kind is not yet hatched, I 

 should have hardly believed but that it had been a locusta whisper- 

 ing in the bushes . The country people laugh when you tell them 

 that it is the note of a bird. It is a most artful creature, sculking in 



* There are just three of the British warblers which are liable to be confounded with 

 one another ; at the same time they are very distinct, and a little attention to their habits 

 alone would easily distinguish them. They are 



The WOOD- WREN, or warbler, Sylvia sibilatrix, referred to before at page 29. In its 

 habits it is distinguished by frequenting old woods, being very partial to those of oak, and 

 being seldom seen among low or young plantations like the next. Mr. Selby writes, " In 

 a living state, it is easily recognised by its peculiar song, which resembles the word tivec, 

 repeated twice or thrice rather slowly, concluding with the same notes hurriedly delivered, 

 and accompanied by a singular shake of the wings." In form this is the largest species, 

 it has a bright yellow eye-streak , and the upper parts have a tint of sulphur-yellow, 

 wanting in the others. The belly and under tail-covers are pure white. 



The WILLOW-WREN, or warbler, Sylvia trochilus, Selby, is one of our most common 

 and generally distributed warblers ; it is also one of pur earliest sylvan visitants, appearing 

 almost with the first leaves of spring, and frequenting young woods and plantations. It 

 has a lively but limited song of a few notes, which is constantly repeated. In size it nearly 

 equals that of the wood-warbler. The streak over the eye is indistinct, the upper plumage 

 is of an oil-green or brownish tint, and the upper parts are tinted whh yellow, particularly 

 the under tail-covers. 



The CHIFF-CHAFF warbler or Lesser Pettychaps, Sylvia hippolais, is very common in 

 the greater part of England, but becomes less common towards the north, and does not 

 extend far in that direction. It arrives very early, and is immediately betrayed by its 

 peculiar often-repeated note of chiff-chaff, which has given to it its provincial name. It 

 frequents old woods, as well as others of lower growth. In size it is the least of the three, 

 the eye-streak is very indistinct, the upper parts oil-green tinged with grey, and the belly, 

 vent, and under tail-covers are primrose-yellow. The legs are blackish brown, whereas 

 in the other two they are yellowish- brown. This is the " chirper." 



